Wisdom Teeth Research Paper

I nodded and told him that I never had pain in my jawbone. I wanted to know why cavitations form. He explained to me that bone requires a good blood supply and circulation to keep it healthy. Several factors contribute. Cavitations can happen naturally. The third molars (wisdom teeth) are an example. When the tooth erupts the jawbone around it dissolves to allow the tooth to surface. If the tooth is impacted, the bone will sometimes die and become infected. Due to the design of the channel for blood flow; the infection can actually block the blood supply from getting through. Bone marrow edema can be another cause as well. Marrow is a fatty substance in the bone that produces red blood cells. When the marrow swells due to edema, blood flow …show more content…
I looked puzzled so he explained that each tooth is held in place in the jawbone by the periodontal ligament. The ligament runs around the submerged part of the tooth as well as its roots. It acts as a shock absorber so that the tooth doesn’t rub against the jawbone when pressure is applied. The periodontal ligament also ensures that the tooth remains separate from the jawbone and prohibits additional bone growth in the socket. Wisdom teeth are enclosed in a fluid filled sac as they grow that is used to create the periodontal ligament. Dentists and oral surgeons don’t remove the sac or the periodontal ligament. Their reasoning is that the body breaks it down over time.
However, while the sac and/or ligament deteriorate, the body thinks that the tooth is still there so the jawbone doesn’t heal. New bone won’t fill in the extraction site since the ligament is a biological barrier to such growth. Sometimes when a tooth is extracted a portion of the ligament will come out with the tooth. This is why cavitations come in many shapes and sizes. Since the periodontal ligament doesn’t reach to the top of the socket, a thin boney cap can form over the extraction site, which gives the impression that new bone has formed